Question - how terrified of bed bugs do I need to be? I am checking potential apartment buildings on bedbugregistry.com, but I keep hearing how the little critters are EVERYWHERE in Toronto, not to mention mice and cockroaches. Please tell me it's not all doom and gloom!

[sorry if this posts twice, it timed out the first time]

_________________I like my bagels like I like my men - big and covered with earth balance & nooch. - Bunniee

I don't have any numbers for you, but for what it's worth, I've lived in Toronto for four years and I've never met anyone who's had a bedbug problem. In fact, I only heard that Toronto has a bedbug problem for the first time a few weeks ago! Scary though, I know.

Well that's good to hear! Once I started Googling about it of course I came across all of these news article that made it sound like you can't step foot in Toronto without running into bed bugs - apartments, hotels, even movie theatres - ack!

_________________I like my bagels like I like my men - big and covered with earth balance & nooch. - Bunniee

Well that's good to hear! Once I started Googling about it of course I came across all of these news article that made it sound like you can't step foot in Toronto without running into bed bugs - apartments, hotels, even movie theatres - ack!

I really wouldn't buy any used wood furniture. If buying used, only go for metal. Bed bugs can stick to wood.. I had a friend who all of a sudden had an invasion. She called me and I told her pack everything up right away and toss it (mattresses), bag her clothes and toss them into the bathtub. Her landlord had to (it's the law) bring someone in to fumigate.. The problem is that they can travel t hrough the outlets, holes in the baseboards etc.

hey thanks! I'll definitely check out the co-ops! And good advice about the bed bugs...my friend was saying that a person in his building brought in some chair he found in a dumpster and ended up infecting the whole building - ugh!

_________________I like my bagels like I like my men - big and covered with earth balance & nooch. - Bunniee

If you're like me, you've been reading with envy about all of the things our neighbours to the south get, that we can only hope will eventually make their way up here. One of those products was Field Roast. I know Whole Foods in the US has a bunch of their foods, and I keep checking the Toronto one when I get a chance.

Well, yesterday I went to Fiesta Farms on Christie St., and they have the Apple Sage and the Mexican Chipotle sausages. I don't know if Whole Foods now has Field Roast, but if I can, I prefer to support a small family grocer that has made the effort to provide vegan foods over the years. Quite often when my mother has asked for products, the owner has tried to get them in. I bought both, and they are good.

Question - how terrified of bed bugs do I need to be? I am checking potential apartment buildings on bedbugregistry.com, but I keep hearing how the little critters are EVERYWHERE in Toronto, not to mention mice and cockroaches. Please tell me it's not all doom and gloom!

[sorry if this posts twice, it timed out the first time]

Too bad I didn't know you were looking before. I am heading down south to Georgia, the plan being for at least a year. My house doesn't (fingers crossed) have bedbugs, unless they come in from one of the tenants renting on the other half (it's semidetached), and the mouse madness is years in the past. No roaches that I know of... Anyway, I just got someone committed to the place. If they fall through, I can let you know.

Anyway, congratulations on the job and good luck finding a place. I only know one person who has had bedbug problems, but as long as you look at the registry and maybe see if you can get a word with a tenant, you should be alright. I use my nose to see if I can get a whiff of roach spray or mouse pee. Seriously. Check the broiler of a stove, because that's one place they like to nest. In drawers you might see tiny roach droppings or their egg sacs. You can avoid all pests with some vigilance.

I'm not a Yonge & Eg person, prefer more central (i"m in Seaton village, just west of the Annex), and love it. You can walk anywhere, Y&E is a 1/2 hour TTC ride at most, vegan food around the corner in stores, bars and restaurants. Sadly our vegan grocery closed, but there's still a lot to choose from. Hogtown Vegan (the Hot Beans' peep's diner) is a five minute walk away. Kensington's a nice walk from here. It's another part of town to consider.

I'm here!!! Arrived very early yesterday morning. I spent the day traipsing around Yonge & Eg, looked at all kinds of over-priced dumps, but then the very last one of the day turned out to be a gem. I thought I wanted to live in a high rise, but the one I fell in love with was a low-rise, a pretty small building. Who knew. Anyway, thank you for all of your help Torontonian PPKers! Oh, and my apartment is right down the street from a crepe place that has a sign about vegan crepes. Yes, please!

_________________I like my bagels like I like my men - big and covered with earth balance & nooch. - Bunniee

So right down the street from the office is Kale...it's a vegan/macrobiotic salad bar thingie where you pay by weight. They also have hot food. I checked it out for lunch - it was pretty good! I was cautious about what I tried though...I always seem to get myself into trouble at pay by weight places.

_________________I like my bagels like I like my men - big and covered with earth balance & nooch. - Bunniee

Welcome (back) to Canada, lobsterrific! I'm interesting in hearing about those crepes, mmm.

_________________Did you notice the slight feeling of panic at the words "Chicken Basin Street"? Like someone was walking over your grave? Try not to remember. We must never remember. - mumblesIs this about devilberries and nazifruit again? - footface

Okay I have a really stupid question that I can NOT find on TTC's website or on Google: Can I use a subway pass on street cars and buses?

yep! It's a TTC-wide pass.

_________________Did you notice the slight feeling of panic at the words "Chicken Basin Street"? Like someone was walking over your grave? Try not to remember. We must never remember. - mumblesIs this about devilberries and nazifruit again? - footface

So right down the street from the office is Kale...it's a vegan/macrobiotic salad bar thingie where you pay by weight. They also have hot food. I checked it out for lunch - it was pretty good! I was cautious about what I tried though...I always seem to get myself into trouble at pay by weight places.

I like Kale! The other Yonge and Eg vegan-friendly place I know of is Hotel Gelato.

okay I have another question! Where would the best (i.e., cheap) place be to stock up on lentils and dried beans and stuff?

Bulk Barn, probably? They have everything! There's one at Carlton and Yonge - so it's subway accessible - but you can check their store locator to see if there's one even closer to you.

I have the answer to a question you didn't even know you had! The best resource for being vegan in Toronto is the Toronto Vegetarian Association. There's an eating guide, and in September, the largest vegetarian food festival in North America! (So fun and delicious and entertaining, oh my.) So... yeah. veg.ca.